Prohibiting telework a costly measure for advancement of women in business: WXN

Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer took the unusual step of taking away telework options from Yahoo staff, a move seen by many as a giant step backward.

Photograph by: Chip Somodevilla
, Getty Images

The internal memo sent by Yahoo’s head of HR, Jackie Reses, to Yahoo employees that their presence in company offices was mandatory caused a dust up when it was leaked by a tech blogger back in February. The edict that working from home was no longer an option came from the newly installed CEO Marissa Mayer, the same woman credited with helping make Google one of the best places to work for men and women alike.

In a nutshell, the memo stated that collaboration and communication were critical in making Yahoo “the absolute best place to work” and that the best way to make that happen was to have all employees physically present in one of its offices. The point was made that speed and quality were often sacrificed when people worked from home and that some of the best decisions came from impromptu conversations in hallways and the cafeteria. As of this past June, no Yahoo employees have work-from-home privileges.

The criticism was fast and furious and many women were loud and clear in announcing their displeasure, calling it a step backward. Ms. Mayer made an already difficult situation worse by waiting until April to explain her decision. She didn’t really have a choice. She had been booked months in advance to speak at the Great Place to Work Conference and had to say something to the crowd of HR professionals in attendance.

Will it affect women specifically and perhaps more significantly than it will affect men? Absolutely

While she acknowledged that, “people are more productive when they are alone,” she also defended her decision by saying “they are more collaborative and innovative when they’re together” — the two big buzzwords of the day.

At first glance, it seemed Ms. Mayer was simply the brand new CEO of a company that was in dire straights and needed to change in order to recapture its fortunes. A CEO has to make tough decisions and tough decisions are rarely popular. She and others at Yahoo must have had concerns that working offsite was bad for the business.

It’s certainly easy enough to find studies that show that working from home has a negative impact on productivity. However, it is just as easy to find studies that show the opposite — as Ms. Mayer pointed out herself.

In 2013, it is critical that men and women who have been strong performers and demonstrated they have what it takes to contribute to an organization to have the option to work from home. It builds engagement and an engaged workforce is good for business — any and all business. When that business happens to be an Internet/technology juggernaut, it’s that much more feasible. At least, it should be.

This is not just a gender issue. It is a talent issue and one that will have implications certainly for the productivity of any company that denies flexible work environments to people who have proven they can deliver, and who meet the criteria established by a given organization to work effectively from home. Will it affect women specifically and perhaps more significantly than it will affect men? Absolutely.

While women make up half the workforce, are graduating in greater numbers than men from university, few have made it into the C-suite. In fact, according to the most recent research from Catalyst, only 18.1% of FP500 companies had women senior officers. More than one-third (35.9%) of public companies in that group reported having no women in their senior leadership ranks at all.

There are several reasons that women aren’t moving up the ranks as fast as they should but perhaps the biggest barrier to doing so is the lack of flexible work arrangements to accommodate women who want to have children. The Women’s Executive Network is not alone in this belief. A few years ago, the Harvard Business Review ran an article titled Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership that explored the reasons for the scarcity of women in leadership. The article was a thoughtful examination of the challenges women face as they move into leadership roles. Unsurprisingly, this lack of flexibility was also cited as a key barrier to advancement.

WXN has long maintained a policy that allows its people — both men and women — to telecommute with the approval of a supervisor and on terms acceptable to both the individual and the organization. Like many organizations, WXN recognized it is important to attract the best and brightest talent, but hard to find and keep that talent. Offering a flexible work environment is one way to help do that.

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About a decade ago, WXN surveyed its members who are all executives and managers and asked them what they wanted to help them achieve more work-life balance. The number one response was the option to work a four-day week at 80% pay. Sadly, while WXN offers such flexibility to its staff, the vast majority of companies do not. However, many do offer other flexible working arrangements because they realize it’s good for business.

It’s too bad that at Yahoo — a company in a turnaround situation during a time when the competition for talent is heated and only getting hotter — the CEO took away an opportunity to attract talented professionals who want to achieve some level of work-life balance. Just look at the numbers. By 2015, people between the ages of 55 and 64 will make up almost half the labour force in Canada and they will be retiring en masse. As a result, it’s been estimated that Canada will have 1 million fewer people of working age by 2020. As an organization trying to right itself, the decision to eliminate the ability for employees to work from home was shortsighted.

Ms. Mayer’s argument that she made the decision to encourage collaboration was particularly disappointing. In an era dominated by technology and all the capability to collaborate it affords us, she is in effect limiting the way her own people can collaborate.

Given the breadth and accessibility of communications technology in 2013, it’s tough to buy the argument that you can’t still have a culture of collaboration if you’re not in the same building. At the end of the day, collaboration is about building strong relationships with colleagues, employees, clients and suppliers. That’s what’s missing from the decision Ms. Mayer took.

Pamela Jeffery is the founder and CEO of the Women’s Executive Network and the Canadian Board Diversity Council